CHAPTER 13

(1445 B.C.)

LANDS YET UNCONQUERED

¹Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, You are old and stricken in years (Joshua, at this time, was 101 years of age), and there remains yet very much land to be possessed. (The account in this Chapter given to us concerning the possession of the land, or the lack thereof, points to every Believer that which the Lord has prepared for us; however, there are enemies between the Promise and the Possession. God has a Perfect Plan for us, but, regrettably, so few of us press through to that Perfect Plan. We all too often stop short! The words, there remains yet very much land to be possessed, should strike long, hard, and true to the heart of every Believer.)

²This is the land that yet remains: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri (and we must remember, it is the Holy Spirit Who is delineating these things),

³From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:

⁴From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and the Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites:

⁵And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under Mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath.

⁶All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the Children of Israel: only divide you it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.

⁷Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine Tribes, and the half Tribe of Manasseh,

⁸With whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses the Servant of the LORD gave them;

⁹From Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river, and all the plain of Medeba unto Dibon;

¹⁰And all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, unto the border of the Children of Ammon;

¹¹And Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Salcah;

¹²All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out.

¹³Nevertheless the Children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites: but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day. (The word nevertheless proclaims failure among the people of God to possess all that was promised. Such is the sad condition of far too many Believers. While some victories are won, nevertheless some things remain things which steal, kill, and destroy. How many enemies remain unsubdued in the hearts of Believers?

There is only one way that victory can be attained in the life of the Christian. Not ten ways, not five ways, not even two ways, only one way.

All victory over sin, and in every capacity, and, to be sure, sin is the problem, was purchased and thereby attained at the Cross of Calvary [Eph. 2:13-18; Col. 2:14-15; Gal., Chpt. 5; 6:14]. As a result, the Believers Faith, and this is so very, very important, must ever have the Cross of Christ as its Object [Rom. 6:3-14]. If the Believer is faithful in anchoring his Faith in the Cross of Christ, and maintaining his Faith in the Cross of Christ, the Holy Spirit, Who works exclusively within the parameters of the Finished Work of Christ, will, without fail, subdue every enemy within our hearts and lives [Rom. 8:1-2, 11]. That, and that alone, is Gods Prescribed Order Of Victory; otherwise, instead of the Believer subduing the enemies of his soul, the enemies of his soul will subdue him.)

¹⁴Only unto the Tribes of Levi He gave none inheritance; the Sacrifices of the LORD God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as He said unto them (they were to be Ministers of the Sanctuary exclusively).

REUBENS INHERITANCE

¹⁵And Moses gave unto the Tribe of the Children of Reuben inheritance according to their families.

¹⁶And their coast was from Aroer, that is on the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river, and all the plain by Medeba;

¹⁷Heshbon, and all her cities that are in the plain; Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon,

¹⁸And Jahaza, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath,

¹⁹And Kirjathaim, and Sibmah, and Zareth-shahar in the mount of the valley,

²⁰And Beth-peor, and Ashdoth-pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth,

²¹And all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses smote with the princes of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, which were dukes of Sihon, dwelling in the country. (All of these places named represent victories by Gods People over their enemies. Considering that the Holy Spirit inspired all of this, even down to naming the places, portrays to us a tremendous truth.

In Heaven, the Lord enumerates our victories, which are all precious in His Sight, and, as well, mentions the failures, and does so by using the word nevertheless in Verse 13.

To be sure, Satan will do his best to hinder in every capacity. As should be obvious, he doesnt want us to win any victories; however, we definitely can have all that the Lord has promised us, and we must not stop short of total victory. In Christ and the Cross, coupled with our Faith, which gives the Holy Spirit latitude to work, we can, spiritually speaking, possess the entirety of the land [Rom. 8:2, 11].)

BALAAM SLAIN

²²Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the Children of Israel slay with the sword among them who were slain by them. (If Balaam originally was a true Prophet of God, the tragedy is that he sold his gift to the highest bidder, and was reduced in the mind of God to nothing more than a soothsayer. How many modern Prophets fall into the same category?

It seems, instead of returning to his own land, he went to visit the Midianites, whose Elders had joined in the invitation given by Moab [Num. 22:7], and persuaded them to entice the Israelites into idolatry and licentiousness [Num., Chpt. 25]. For this crime, he met with the punishment he had deserved, and was involved in the destruction which fell on the Midianites by Gods express command, in consequence of their treachery [Num. 25:16-18] Blunt.)

REUBENS INHERITANCE

²³And the border of the Children of Reuben was Jordan, and the border thereof. This was the inheritance of the Children of Reuben after their families, the cities and the villages thereof (the borders of Reubens inheritance seem to go from the river Arnon, which was about half way the length of the Dead Sea, and went a little ways north past the Dead Sea, with the Jordan River as its western boundary).

GADS INHERITANCE

²⁴And Moses gave inheritance unto the Tribe of Gad, even unto the Children of Gad according to their families.

²⁵And their coast was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Children of Ammon, unto Aroer that is before Rabbah;

²⁶And from Heshbon unto Ramath-mizpeh, and Betonim; and from Mahanaim unto the border of Debir;

²⁷And in the valley, Beth-aram, and Beth-nimrah, and Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, Jordan and his border, even unto the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth on the other side Jordan eastward.

²⁸This is the inheritance of the Children of Gad after their families, the cities, and their villages.

MANASSEHS INHERITANCE

²⁹And Moses gave inheritance unto the half Tribe of Manasseh: and this was the possession of the half Tribe of the Children of Manasseh by their families.

³⁰And their coast was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities:

³¹And half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were pertaining unto the Children of Machir the son of Manasseh, even to the one half of the Children of Machir by their families.

³²These are the countries which Moses did distribute for inheritance in the plains of Moab, on the other side Jordan, by Jericho, eastward.

³³But unto the Tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them.